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If you follow Pierre Jackson (@PierreJackson55) on Twitter, you’ll notice the hashtag “theysleep” often, and it may have been true prior to his rookie season in the NBA D-League, but not anymore.

Nobody is sleeping on Pierre, especially after he set a new NBA D-League scoring record by dropping 58 points in a win over the Texas Legends.

The always media and fan-friendly Jackson carved out a few minutes for DLeagueDigest.com after Tuesday night’s record breaking performance, and he hit on the epic night as well as his upcoming trip to New Orleans for All-Star weekend.

But right as the interview started, Jackson’s teammate Dallas Lauderdale dropped in and gave his two sense, “I just want everyone to know out there that Pierre is a great teammate. You know we’re roommates together out on the road, so we have inspirational talks together.” Lauderdale said.

Jackson acknowledged the kind words from the big man and commented, “he does help motivate me that’s for sure.” Some security guards and Stampede team personnel dished out congratulatory comments in passing after Lauderdale left, and Jackson returned each person’s compliment with a “thank you” and a smile.

After the pause, Jackson and I picked things back up on his 58 point performance. “I was feeling it from the start and so was Murph, but towards the end of the game I noticed a mismatch as they were switching ball screens, and I thought I had the advantage on who was guarding me. After that, the shots just started going down.” Jackson said.

The shots were certainly falling. Jackson scored 27 points in the fourth quarter alone. He finished the night going 24-for-33 from the floor, and 7-for-13 from beyond the arc. Jackson also added eight assists and six rebounds in his NBA D-League record breaking 58 point performance.

“We were playing with a great pace tonight, but had nice spacing as well. That’s a result of the coaches having us ready though. We just had a good game all around, tonight was a big win for us.” Jackson added.

Jackson recently earned an All-Star nod from the NBA D-League, and as a result, will be heading to NBA All-Star weekend to participate in the NBADL All-Star game. The festivities will take place in New Orleans, a place and club that Jackson is very familiar with as they currently own his player rights.

When asked if the trip to New Orleans could possibly be awkward, Jackson responded, “awkward I don’t know, but there will be a lot of nerves for sure. I’m going to see a lot of Pelican fans and stuff out there, but they’ll show love and I’m looking forward to that. That weekend is going to be about having fun. I’m a rookie anyways, so this is going to be a good experience for me to play in front of the fans and have fun.”

Jackson has never looked more comfortable in the NBA D-League than following Tuesday night’s performance. He engaged with fans and teammates long after the game was over. Maybe it’s because Jackson understands the importance of enjoying the moment, these sort of moments, rather than dwelling on his Call-Up situation or the lack there of.

Regardless, I’m not sure #theysleep is accurate anymore, we are not sleeping, just admiring a player on his way up.